With the effectiveness of the 1999 Cherokee Nation Constitution, the Judicial Appeals Tribunal became the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court. In Article VIII Section 1 the Constitution states:

“The Judicial powers of the Cherokee Nation shall be vested in a Supreme Court and such lower courts as the Council shall from time-to-time ordain and establish. The Judicial Appeals Tribunal shall become known as the Supreme Court of the Cherokee Nation. The Supreme Court shall be composed of five (5) members all of whom must be citizens of the Cherokee Nation and be admitted to practice law before the highest Court of any state of the United States.”